How do I check a carrier’s MC number?

Where to look it up

SAFER can be searched by USDOT number, MC/MX number or company name. FMCSA also gives a phone line for carrier safety information, including the current safety rating: (800) 832-5660.

For authority and insurance filings, each Snapshot links to the carrier’s Licensing and Insurance details. FMCSA’s Licensing and Insurance (L&I) site covers interstate for-hire carriers that have been granted authority or have applications pending.

Reading the Snapshot, field by field

• Entity type. Whether the company is registered as a carrier, a broker, a shipper, a freight forwarder or a combination.
• USDOT status and out-of-service date. You want to see an active status and None for the out-of-service date. A date there means an out-of-service order was issued. What out of service means.
• Operating authority status. The types of authority the company holds, such as Motor Carrier of Property or Broker of Property. SAFER points out that NOT AUTHORIZED does not apply to private or intrastate operations.
• MC/MX/FF numbers, legal name, DBA name, addresses and phone. Compare each one with what you were given.
• MCS-150 form date. Carriers must file an MCS-150 update every 24 months on a schedule set by the last digits of their USDOT number.
• Power units and drivers. The fleet size on record. Compare it with what the carrier claims about its trucks.
• Inspections. Counts of vehicle, driver and hazmat inspections, how many were placed out of service, and the out-of-service percentage next to a national average. The page notes that these inspections may not cover every part and accessory.
• Crashes. Reportable crashes, which SAFER lists without any determination as to responsibility.
• Safety rating. The rating, its date and the type. What a safety rating means.

What the record cannot tell you

The record does not tell you who is on the phone. The FBI reports that criminals change a legitimate carrier’s contact information with FMCSA and update its insurance information as part of cargo theft schemes. Treat listed contact details with care when anything else looks off, and use the company’s own website, reached by typing its address, as a second source.

Some safety data is not public. FMCSA’s SMS site says some property-carrier compliance and safety performance information is no longer displayed publicly under the FAST Act, and that the Crash Indicator and Hazardous Materials Compliance BASICs remain hidden, while inspection and crash data stay public.

MC numbers and Motus

FMCSA’s new registration system, Motus, uses the USDOT number as each company’s unique identifier and adds a suffix after it for each type of registration the company holds. FMCSA’s April 2026 notice said those suffixes were only visible inside the system at that time. Ask carriers for both their MC and USDOT numbers, and check that they belong to the same company.

Step by step

1. Get the MC number, USDOT number and legal company name from the carrier in writing.
2. Search the MC number on the SAFER Company Snapshot.
3. Check the entity type, USDOT status, out-of-service date and operating authority.
4. Compare the name, address and phone number with the carrier’s paperwork and email signature.
5. Look at the MCS-150 date, fleet size, inspections, crashes and safety rating.
6. Check the insurance filings and confirm the certificate with the agent. How to verify insurance.
7. Call the company on a number you found yourself to confirm the person and the load.
8. Save a dated copy of what you checked with the load file.

What to watch out for

• An MC number that returns a different company than the one named in the email.
• A DBA name that is close to a well-known carrier’s name while the legal name is unrelated.
• A USDOT number and MC number that do not belong to the same company on the record.
• Checking once and never again. Authority, insurance and out-of-service status can change between loads, so recheck repeat carriers.